Slivers
by Freedom4Poetry
Summary: A collection of short stories and character studies for Transformers:Animated Universe. It looks at both sides of the war, and explores the themes already set up by TF:A writers. After all, each sliver builds up into the great tapestry that this universe has weaved. Constructive criticism welcomed, please R and R. Ratings may change depending on future stories published.
1. Quiet Moments

This at the moment is a short story, I intend to make this a collection of moments in the TFA-verse, but I might make some of them multiple chapter ones. It depends on how I feel I could work with them :). Disclaimer: I do not own TFA because if I did, I would never have allowed them to cancel Season 4.

This current one is set in Season 1, and is meant to be a fun look at Team Optimus when they're not out there kicking aft.

Megacycle - equivalent to 2.6 Earth hours

Solar cycle - 10 megacycles, equivalent to a day

Deca-cycle - equivalent to 10 days, a Cybertronian week

Warning: contains Cybertronian swearing

* * *

By human standards when it came to local meteorology the weather was perfect.

Not a collection of steam in the sky, or as Sari called them 'clouds'. Not to mention the nearest star shining brightly, it was the perfect temperature.

Bulkhead had settled down outside the warehouse/secret base with his 'art' equipment and was painting… something. Apparently he wanted to do it here because the lighting was perfect, not that Ratchet could tell what the slag it was supposed to be. However he seemed happy enough and was not bothering Ratchet in the slightest.

The same could be said for Prowl who was sat on the roof next to the tree as it burst out through the tiles spreading its lush green leaves in the ideal sunlight. Prowl's form was almost indistinguishable under the vegetation's shade, apart from the dapples of buttery reflection in his plating as the light shyly shone through the coverage.

Indeed it was a perfect day, ideal for a stasis nap in fact. Old joints creaked as Ratchet leant back against the crumbling wall, sighing contently, appreciating the brief lull of peace. He might be able to get a megacycle at least without someone breaking something today.

"Do you know where Sari is Ratchet?"

Ah, so much for that uninterrupted stasis nap, he'd almost forgotten that little troublemaker was visiting today. He lazily opened one optic.

"Not a clue, probably with Bumblebee causing mischief somewhere on some poor unsuspecting spark."

Optimus frowned. "So you haven't seen Bumblebee either then? Hmm, why's it taking him so long?"

Ratchet was unperturbed "So Bumblebee's picking her up then? They probably stopped off at Burger-bot to pick up some fuel for Sari, it's not like we have much here for her."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Enjoying the weather? The humans say it's going to last for at least another decacycle. They call it a 'heatwave', apparently."

"They can call it whatever they like, makes it easier to drive on the roads of this Primus forsaken planet."

Optimus grinned at that. "Not a big fan of the rain are you?"

"Nope."

The peaceful lull returned, the firetruck transformer falling silent, temporarily that is.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Aren't you a little young to be joining this old 'bot in a stasis nap?"

Optimus sat down and leaned back on the wall, mirroring Ratchet's position.

"I wasn't aware this wall was ideal stasis nap territory," he smiled mischievously "especially for old bots. No, I'm just passing the time until Bumblebee and Sari arrive, and being outside will mean I'll be easily accessed in case something comes up."

"Hmph, in that case stay quiet, this 'bot fully intends take one, and can't do that if you keep talking."

Suddenly there was a loud toot of a horn. Ratchet jolted and Optimus was on his pedes, highly alert for trouble.

"Sari, come back!"

"Now what?! Can't a 'bot get some rest around here?"

"Hey guys!" Sari came running up and hugged Optimus' pede. "Oh you are not gonna believe what happened! See Bumblebee came to pick me up like planned, and the these guys, like, challenged him to a race, telling him they were waaay better drivers and so he accepted and then…"

"Sari, wait, stop!" Bumblebee skidded around the corner and realised just who he was face to face with. "Hey, um, Optimus, great to see you, outside." His voice trailed off a he laughed nervously.

Bumblebee was a mess. Bits of organic life, branches and leaves clung to his plating, which had been dulled by the brown dirt and flashes of filthy water, creating small patches of dried mud. Optimus' optics narrowed in disapproval.

"And when you entered this, race, where was Sari in the middle of this?"

"Well…" Bumblebee looked at the floor before grinning nervously at the increasing irate Prime, "about that."

"Typical, you acted rashly and potentially endangered Sari in the process."

"Oh hi Prowl!"

Prowl glanced over from where he was sat at the edge of the roof. "Hello Sari. Good to see the only thing damaged would be Bumblebee's scratched plating, Allspark forbid it would be _your_ ego." His attention was now directed to Bumblebee.

"What was I supposed to do, stay still and let them insult Cybertronian driving skills, ha, I showed them, we can drive anywhere, road or forest!"

"Do you ever think before acting? One solar cycle somebot is going to get hurt and it might have been Sari!"

"But I was OK, Bumblebee even asked if I had my seatbelt on before we started."

"Yeah, see!"

Optimus cut in before the bickering could get any worse. "Seatbelt or not," he bent down to pick Sari up "you still put her in harm's way and for that no video games for a decacycle. No buts." he added seeing Bumblebee begin to protest. "You can spend the time thinking about being more careful in future, especially when organics are involved."

Bulkhead finally piped up from his homemade easel once Bumblebee looked pleadingly at him "He's got a point, little guy, Sari's so little, you have to think about, like how you're gonna affect her."

Sari pulled the biggest puppy dog eyes she could manage, grasping at Optimus' thumb. "But who's gonna play with me on the racing games?"

"The weather is going to be good for the next, um," Optimus searched through his database for a human equivalent to a decacycle. "Week, it'll be good for the next week. So I'm sure we can think of lots of things for you to do today."

"You can spend some time with me." Prowl suggested. "I have found many outdoor games that don't need computers to find enjoyment."

"Right, then, it's settled. Bumblebee you need to wash off, Sari can help you." Her dejected face lit up at that idea, just as Optimus had planned.

"There's water hoses 'round the back, we can use those Bumblebee."

"Ok then, sure thing boss-bot." Bumblebee tentatively reached for Sari and Optimus handed her over.

Ratchet had said nothing throughout the whole debacle, sick of the constant interruptions, he deliberately ignored it all, and now was deep into his stasis nap. Finally.

* * *

Please read and review :) Constructive criticism appreciated


	2. Stormy Nights

Stormy Nights

Jargon: Dermas – transformer's lips

Stellar cycle – transformer's year

Set in Season 2

I've always thought about how whilst Sumdac obviously cares very deeply about Sari, sometimes his work seems to be all-consuming, and I can very easily imagine him not always being there for her, especially since we've seen how he sometimes forgets to eat, and what day it is. This is a 'fic tackling that issue.

* * *

Sari was not scared, not one bit. She'd outwitted Decepticons and challenged Detroit's most dangerous supervillains. So why did the rolling crash of thunder and flash of lightening leave her hiding in her tractor tire-turned bed?

When nights like this happened she went to Dad, and the worse moments were when he wasn't in his bed. Sometimes he'd still be in his lab, asleep after a long day of work. And Sari would be all alone, because he couldn't hear her when she called.

BOOOOOOM!

Sari ducked under the sheets, she wasn't scared, not scared, not scared.

"I swear this blasted planet is going to give me a spark attack. This storm sounds more like a Decepticon attack."

Ratchet was right; this was the worst storm Detroit had had in the past two years, and it was predicted the local forest would lose a few trees from uprooting under the bellowing wind. The Autobots were on call in case of an emergency, despite their weakened relations with the humans since the battle for Detroit and the Allspark.

"I'll go and check on Sari." Prowl was up too. "The storm might have woken her, it might be hard for her to recharge in this noise."

A lithe shadow appeared at the door, before carefully approaching the bed. The ninja's skills came in handy for more than just combat, as he made no sound despite the heavy nature of his armour. Prowl leant forward and lifted the covers.

"I'm not scared."

"Sari, I never said you were which means, since you mentioned it, you are." Prowl looked in concern. "Why didn't you come? Sari, you know we are in the main room, so we would be here if you needed us."

"I'm eight, I can deal with a stupid storm."

"There's nothing wrong with being afraid, it's normal. In fact, only a truly brave person can admit when they're scared, because they know there is nothing wrong with fear. Fear can keep you alive, provided you don't let it control you." He gently picked her up. "And it doesn't hurt that your family are here to look after you."

That made her smile. "Yeah, we're family."

"I have a suggestion, there is a stack of 'movies' Bumblebee ordered online for you, I think the others won't mind if you have one late night."

"Really? A movie night! I want to watch Zombies vs Vampire Bears!" Sari practically squealed into his hand whilst leaning over his thumb. Prowl was careful to adjust his grip as he carried her to the main living room.

"The last time you saw that film about zombies you and Bumblebee swore they were real."

"Well why would they make a movie about it if they weren't real?"

All the while Optimus had been listening in to this conversion, which brought a smile to his dermas. Prowl started out as a loner, but it seems this past stellar cycle had seen a change in the ninja. He called them family.

* * *

Read and Review, constructive criticism appreciated :)


	3. Spark Ties

Spark Ties

Thank you to all my reviewers and followers, I really appreciate your interest and hope I can keep producing one-shots that you enjoy :).

Disclaimer: This short story is inspired by Mary Isenberg's short comic 'Everything Must Go' from Transformers Animated: 'The Arrival'. I have included the main events from this comic to create context for the drabble for those who haven't read it, and so I claim no ownership to the first flashback in the story.

I will say this though – transcribing this comic was the hardest part of writing this story, I had to keep proof-reading it for accuracy. But I think it was worth it.

Jargon: Servo – hand/limb (varies in usage)

Optical ridge – eyebrow

Nanoclick – 1.5 earth seconds, equivalent to a cybertronian second

Megacycle – 2.4 earth hours, equivalent to a cybertronian hour

Optic – eye

* * *

Space is hard to describe, an empty inky void, occasionally interrupted by the odd star or asteroid field, or even a planetary system. But other than that, just a silent vacuum existed, infinitely stretching to an invisible horizon, calm, peaceful and

"And zhey say I'm zhe crazy one! At least I'm not an idiot like Zwindle!" A beige jet shot past cackling alongside it's partner, purple, and another flight-former.

"True, what kind of fool thinks he can deceive the glorious Lord Megatron's top lieutenants?"

The incident, to those unaware, they referred to was Swindle's backfired racketeering. The greedy salesbot/arms dealer has taken advantage of the duo's disagreement over Megatron's disputed offlining (Lugnut declared his Lord online, Blitzwing begged to differ). So after Blitzwing had hired Lockdown to capture Optimus Prime for revenge, and once Lugnut found out, declaring him an 'Infidel' for:

A) Dealing with bounty-hunters

B) Saying Megatron was offline

And thus attacked with the vigorous passion held for his leader, smashing Blitzwing's face into the vid-screen and firing his missiles at almost point-bank range.

After Lugnut had stormed off was when the fast-talking jeep-mech slithered up to Blitzwing, who was firmly lodged in a cave wall. "Hope you don't mind my interrupting, but you look like you could use a bit of a pick-me-up." He grabbed hold of Blitzwing's chestplate and eased him up. "Swindle's the name. And I couldn't help noticing you are severely out-gunned by your friend over there."

"He's no friend of mine!" Growled Blitzwing, still in Hot-head mode. "I vill grind him into tiny, little ball bearings!" He clenched his servo as a visual aid.

"Of course I make it a point never to meddle in private affairs." Swindle leant forward in a confidential tone, smooth as distilled oil. "But I may just have a little something to help you out." At this he pulled out a huge cannon, nearly as tall as him. He raised an optical ridge, faceplate splitting in a devious one-sided smile. "Assuming, naturally, you have the credit downloads available…"

One megacycle later…

"Lugnut, I vould like to express my extreme displeasure with jour overzealous, strong-servo tactics. And now I am properly equipped to extact my revenge." Icy was in full control now as he walked through the rocky canyon to Lugnut.

He activated the cannon, pointing it at a humongous cuboid rock, dozens of times Blitzwing's and Lugnut's mass. It then began to silently levitate.

"Ha! And how do you expect to defeat me with a mere Andellorian anti-gravity cannon?" Lugnut's scorn was apparent.

"Actually, it's zhe gravity zhat vill do most of zhe damage."

Lugnut looked up – too late!

 **SMASH!**

Eventually Lugnut clawed his way out from underneath his mountainous prison. "BLITZWING! You will pay for your insolence!"

But Blitzwing was nowhere to be seen, somebot else, however, was.

"Funny you should mention payment…" Lugnut spun around looking for the owner of the sleazy tone. "… what would you say if I told you I had just the thing to silence obnoxious, overbearing triple changers?" Oh yes, thought Swindle, this would be a profitable venture. "I offer a wide variety of financing options…"

Thus it began. Lugnut launched his retaliation on Blitzwing with a 'Talosian Triple Crusher Cannon!' Which, of course, crushed Blitzwing into a tangle of servos, much to Random's amusement.

"Ooh, look! Now I'm a compact! Get it? Compact? Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Which, Swindle just so happened to have just the thing for: A Torkulanian decompression pump, for a price, but with "no extra charge" a Glass Gas, and Digital Impact Mace (from the planet Dahrds, don't go there, they water down the energon), for this "temporary set-back."

Poor Lugnut, shattered into scores of pieces. "This is so humiliating."

"Oh , don't be such a protoform. A little menonian super glue and you'll be good as new." Swindle soothed Lugnut's concerns as he zipped around his client piecing him like a jigsaw back to wholeness."

And of course Swindle gave his 'loyal customer' a bomb capable of destroying a planet, and it carried you (since even Lugnut balked at the size and doubted his ability to carry it, this was a good feature) – a brilliant weapon for obliterating infidel triple changers in space – until it turned out Blitzwing owned one twice as big.

"You wouldn't dare!" Boomed Lugnut an asteroid's distance from Blitzwing.

"Try me."

 **BA-DOOM!**

 **BA-BA-DOOOOM!**

Their voices both rang out in perfect harmony:

"Fool! Your Doomsday weapon is useless against my Nemesis shield!"

Their optics contracted in shock, hardly able to speak for several nano-clicks.

"Swindle?" Blitzwing tried.

"You too?" Lugnut scowled.

Safe to say the arms-dealer did not get off lightly.

"Sorry folks." Swindle raised his servos in a plea for mercy as he stood trapped on the corner of one of New Kaon's flat rooftops. "No refunds on damaged goods."

"Oh ve're not looking for a refund." Hothead seemed unusually calm, but a smirk was apparent as he looked to Lugnut.

"Just an exchange." Lugnut's optic glinted with malice and revenge as his faceplate mirrored Blitzwing's.

Blitzwing landed the first punch, with Lugnut close behind.

"As in 'exchange' jour head for jour exhaust port! Jour servo for jour pelvis! Jour shock-absorbers for jour hydraulics!" Blitzwing listed off the detailed mangling of Swindle's frame.

It wouldn't offline him; just a little reminder for any future schemes Swindle might concoct involving Megatron's elite.

Now their revenge was sated Blitzwing and Lugnut had repaired their comradery, and were now flying abreast of each other, hot on the Nemesis' signal.

"So," Blitzwing tentatively began, "how did Strika take zhe news about Zwindle anyway."

There was a pregnant pause. "Not well." Lugnut admitted.

* * *

Whilst it the fight could be seen as energon under the bridge for Lugnut and Blitzwing, General Strika, Lord Megatron's personal 'General of Destruction' had another opinion on the matter. Especially since she and Lugnut were each other's consorts.

"Zhou spent nearly 43,000 credits on brawling with Blizwing."

Lugnut squirmed visibly through the vid-screen. "Yes my fearless warrior." Maybe praise of his brilliant consort will help ease her anger.

"43,000 credits, in Zwindle's account, Zwindle." Her deadpan tone belied her disbelief. Evidently praise was not going to help.

"Yes, Swindle, my glorious love, but…" Lugnut struggled for words, a rare occurrence. "Blitzwing had sullied the magnificent Lord Megatron's name," at this his servo swung up in salute at the mention of his leader, "and Swindle offered to help after Blitzwing dropped a boulder on me and…"

"Zhou trusted the self-serving scum" she spat out the last word like it had done her personal offence, "that is called Zwindle, who serves just as little loyalty to the Decepticon cause as that techno-organic turncoat."

"Yes." Lugnut was ashamed, he knew Strika despised Swindle with almost the same passion as she felt for former Autobots, and yet he still fell for the salesbot's con.

"Luckily," His beloved Strika's voice drew him from his maudlin state, "this could work in to our advantage. Like you I do not believe Lord Megatron is offline, he is far too difficult to destroy. But I do not want to draw the attention of those like Starscream by sending my own to find him, and I have far too many duties on Chaar to go on my own." She looked straight at Lugnut. "Which is why I zhall send you and Blitzwing since it seems zhour feud is over."

"Oh, what a wondrous plan she who holds my spark in her servo! You are, as always, a strategic genius! " Lugnut's joy was expressed in large, clumsy servo gestures. "We shall find our liege and return at once to New Kaon where we shall plan our reclamation of Cybertron under his command!"

"Yes, zo we zhall. Oh, and Lugnut," she called before he propelled himself out of the room, "I love zhou." Her voice was soft, with a tenderness normally hidden from the public image of a no –nonsense commander.

Lugnut smiled "I love you too."

* * *

Please read and review, constructive criticism appreciated :)


	4. Little Helper

Drabble 4 – Little Helper

This drabble is inspired by the TFA short Operating Table, and is meant to explain how it came to be.

Link: www. youtube watch? v=s2wAizoeddo (remove spacing)

Jargon – Megacycle: 2.4 Earth hours, equivalent to a Cybertronian hour.

Optical Ridge - eyebrow

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Animated.

* * *

Ratchet stood in his medical bay, master of all he surveyed. Laser scalpels, clamps, a welder, on and on as he listed off the equipment from his personal inventory with ease. Millions of stellar cycles as a medic meant no matter what planet he was on, he could claim his home whilst immersed in his equipment.

He lowered himself into the chair in front of his large computer screen. He had to log in the medical report for Bumblebee's latest check-up from yesterday. Primus, that had been a nightmare.

* * *

"But I don't need a medical check-up, look Ratchet, I'm fine." Bumblebee pleaded, immediately distracted from his video game.

"Yes, you do, it's compulsory, for everyone." Ratchet glared pointedly at Bumblebee. "Including you."

Sari peered over the couch, curiosity piqued now the video game had stopped. "But, if something's wrong with Bee I can just fix him with my key, can't I?"

"This isn't to fix damage kid," the earth term felt alien on his glossa, just as much so in his processor. It's a medical check-up, to make sure everything is working properly, catch any future problems _before_ they start." Now he glared at Bumblebee again, explanation turned lecture.

Bumblebee groaned. "But I hate medical check-ups, they take forever, and it's always the same – nothing wrong. Maybe an old 'bot like you needs to have lots of them, but I'm not going offline yet." He grinned at Ratchet's fuming face. "'Sides, can't you just let me skip one, we're on Earth, no-bot's gonna know. Who's gonna, Cybertron High Command?"

"I'll know. Now get your aft in that med-bay before I drag you there."

"You're gonna have to catch me first!" And with that Bumblebee sped off, transforming into his vehicle mode.

"Why, you little!" Ratchet also transformed sirens blazing, all in hot pursuit of the runaway scout, leaving Sari alone, with a thoughtful look on her face.

* * *

Ratchet sighed and leant back in his chair, the report finally completed. He should have done it straight away after examining Bumblebee, but the chase lasted for over a megacycle, only coming to a halt as dusk fell in autumnal Detroit. And even then it was only after calling in Optimus for assistance, with repeated threats of additional clean up duty, which finally brought their youngest team member to a halt.

But even then the medical examination was chaos because of how Bumblebee refused to completely comply.

"Lift open your hood for me." Ratchet leant forward over the 'bot whilst he was in car-mode.

"Why?" Ratchet had resisted the urge to strangle the young 'bot so far, but was struggling, the wrench on the table was now appearing to appeal as a weapon for blunt force trauma. "It's not like I'm an earth car and my spark is in the front in this mode." He snarked.

"I'm doing it to check your joints are working right, now open your slaggin' hood."

* * *

"Ratchet?" A young voice broke his thoughts. "Are you there?"

He spun around, Sari stood in the doorway, dressed in her usual yellow dress and boots.

"Hey there kid, what you doin' here?" Sari usually went straight to Bulkhead and Bumblebee, it was certainly different to see her around his territory.

"You know about, the medical check-ups and stuff, I was just wondering if you could teach me some stuff about, well…" She looked down at her feet whilst tapping her shoes together.

Ratchet's expression softened. "You want to learn about Cybertronian medicine." He smiled. "So what brought this on?"

Sari still looked at her feet. "I, just, I can fix you guys with my key, but I don't really know what it's fixing, and I dunno, it just looks interesting." She finally looked up. "I wanna learn from you."

Ratchet beamed with pride. Their little friend was dear to him, and he would do anything to keep her safe and happy. "Why not? Prowl's teaching you basic cyber-ninja blows and self-defence, I can teach you Cybertronian first aid."

"Great! What are we going to first?" Sari bounced across the threshold.

"Basic Cybertronian anatomy." Ratchet turned to the computer and pulled up a diagram of a truck frame, similar to Optimus'. "This is where our spark is located." He pointed to the centre of the chassis whilst lifting Sari up to the height of the control panel.

Time quickly passed as Sari became familiarly with the different segments of the cybertronian frame. Eventually it was time for lunch as her stomach growled aggressively at her.

Ratchet raised an optical ridge. "Sounds like you need fuel."

Sari gripped at the front of her dress. "Yeah. I'm starving."

"How does Burger-bot sound?"

"That sounds delicious." Sari grinned mischievously up at her elder.

"Well then, I'll take you, and after you've refuelled we can do more of this, if you want to?"

"Yeah, please!"

"I have a feeling I'm gonna have a new assistant around here once I've got you fully trained, if you want to?"

"Are you kidding me! Yeah! That sounds amazing!"

Ratchet shared Sari's grin. "The medic and his assistant."

* * *

Thank you : ) Please read and review. Constructive criticism appreciated.


	5. Tranquillity and Inspiration

Tranquillity and Inspiration

I'm so sorry this is a week late; I spent last week packing for going to University for the first time, and then spent this week just trying to settle in. I'd like to give a big thank you to all the people who are following, reviews and favourited this story, and hope that this new one shot is to your liking. Any constructive criticism is truly appreciated.

This one is set in Season 1, after episode 6, 'Blast from the Past' when we first saw the Dinobots. I'd like to see this as a sort of sequel to my first one-shot in this series.

Italics means comm. link

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers because if I did I would never had let Season 4 of TF:A be cancelled

* * *

"No." The television with Sari and Bumblebee in front of it was not a good art subject.

"No." Neither were Ratchet's tools.

How about that wing of Starscream's in Boss-bot's room? "No." Why did he even have that anyway?

Bulkhead was stumped, he wanted to paint something, but there wasn't anything interesting enough for him to draw. So he carried his paint-mop and canvas from room to room in their warehouse/secret base hoping for something to inspire him. So far, no luck.

He huffed. All he wanted to do was express his own sensitive side, and Sari telling him about art gave him that chance, but now he couldn't think what he could paint.

"Something wrong?"

"Oh! Prowl, heh, didn't see you there," he nudged at the cycle-bot, "guess that's just part of being a cyber-ninja."

"Of course." Prowl looked up, way up, considering the height difference between the two Autobots. "But you still haven't answered my question, is something wrong?"

Bulkhead sighed. "Yeah, I want to paint something, but there's nothing I like. I keep thinking, how can I use this to express myself, but there's nothing that gives me that feeling, you know."

"Hmmm." Prowl seemed pensive holding his digits to his dermas looking down to the floor. "I think," he turned to look back at Bulkhead, "I just might be able to help with that. Follow me."

Bulkhead grinned. "You do! Oh, that's great!"

And with that they both transformed, with Bulkhead placing his art equipment into the back of his vehicle mode. They both drove out of the warehouse and onto the road.

Optimus and Ratchet were stood outside, appreciating the last of the evening summer sun. They were deep in conversation, but the two 'bots leaving quickly caught their optics.

"Where do you think they're going Ratchet?"

"What do I look like, a processor-reader to you? If you're that bothered just comm. them and ask yourself."

"No, I think I'll leave them to it. It's good to see Prowl and Bulkhead spending time together, they've been getting along well since we took on those Dinobots." He turned and smiled at Ratchet. "They've been learning a lot from each other, so hopefully today they'll have even more progress."

Ratchet shook his helm and smiled. "You're a soft-sparked one, aren't you?"

He gave a cheeky grin. "I haven't had any complaints so far."

* * *

Prowl kept leading Bulkhead through Detroit, until the urban jungle gave way to thick woodland crowding the perimeter on the main road out of Detroit.

 _Hey, Prowl, how much further have we got to go?_ Prowl's comm. lit up at Bulkhead's message

 _Not far now,_ he pinged back, _in fact we should be turning off right here._

Prowl pulled off to the right, with Bulkhead following in quick succession. They kept driving though the forest on an old dirt track, with weeds clinging to its edge, and singular faded tire tracks suggesting that Prowl had been here before multiple times.

"Here, we've arrived."

"Wow!" Bulkhead, still in vehicle mode gawped at the scene in front of him. Lake Michigan stretched all the way to the horizon, with the setting sun reflecting in an orchestra of colour across its surface, pinks, reds and oranges. The trees stretched out in the distance, shadowed purple in the shade of the mountains from the warmth of the sun, whilst the mountain tops flickered between their own interpretation of blue purple and black, but buttery yellow along the sides where the sun's light could still reign.

"This is incredible!"

"I know, that's why I brought you here, I'd thought that you would appreciate Earth's beauty from an artistic point of view. Which reminds me, you should store this as a memory pic, the sun will set soon, and you won't have enough time to finish it, since the evening changes so quickly on this planet."

"Got it." Bulkhead set down his easel and canvas. "I can get started on the sketching of the view first, and then finish it back at the warehouse."

"Very well then," Prowl went and sat underneath one of the humongous trees tightly packed into the landscape, "I shall mediate while you sketch, an activity that requires silence, so I won't distract you."

Bulkhead glanced over from his work. "Hey, Prowl, do you come here often?"

"Yes, it is a good area for mediation, far from distractions and at peace with Earth's natural beauty."

"Oh," he looked down at his servos with a gentle smile, "so this is a special place for you, you know, private and stuff."

"In a sense, yes, but," he paused to return the same expression of emotion, "I don't mind sharing it with you."

"Thanks Prowl."

"You're welcome."

And there they sat, Prowl cross-legged and Bulkhead perched on his kibble as usual, two very different sparks, basking in the final glow of Detroit's sun, and the wondrous imagery it blessed these two aliens, far from their old home, but perfectly content with their new one, and the company they shared.

* * *

Please read and review, constructive criticism appreciated :)


End file.
